MISCELLANEA.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 147, 3 September 1872, Page 3

MISCELLANEA.

An American contemporary says:— " The following trick has afforded us so much pleasure that we cannot resist the temptation to give it to our readers, that they, too, may be able to enjoy a good thing. Jt is quite innocent, and easily done by almost anyone. Take a sheet of common note-paper live inches wide and eight inches long, or as near those dimensions as can be obtained, write your full name and post-office address upon it in large plain letters somewhere near the middle of the page ; then lay a clean one-dol-lar green-back upon the sheet of paper, and carefully fold it- twice widthwise of the paper, then place it in a common envelope, and seal it securely ; stick a three cent portrait of the father of his country upon the light hand corner, and write across the face of the envelope the address of this journal, and drop the whole thing into the post-office. The fun of the thing is, that every month for a whole year you will get a copy of a newspaper that will tell you what kinds of oils you ought to buy ; what prices you ought to pay for them ; how to tell whether they are good or not; where they are made, and how they are made; and a thousand other things you ought to know. Try it, and see if it don't come out just so."

There seems to be an encouraging pros' peet that by the tiroo the construction of the overland telegraph is completed it will have to be clone over again. A danger which has before been casually alluded to has, upon further experience, grown to appear more serious than was at first thought. The danger is from the voracity of white ants. These pests of all tropical climates seem to exist in great force in North Australia. A writer to the South Australian licjlster describes their ravages in a very graphic manner. It appears that they devour the "rowing trees, and sometimes eat off the living boughs. The rapidity with which they consume even well dried timber is astonishing : put into a roof to-day, ere a week fine powdery dust is seen to fall from it as the minute agents of destruction are at work. Wooden buildings must be renewed every three or four years at the farthest. But this interesting insect appears to have an especial down on the telegraph poles. Many of them are scooped out and honeycombed, and now stand mere shells, waiting for the first strong wind to blow them over. The insulation pins are coated with a non-conducting varnish, but it makes no difference ; they are riddled and eaten up bodily by the ants. They have not yet taken to eat the wire, but it seems likely that very soou there will be nothing left but the wire. It appears that before long it will be found needful to re-construct the line with iron posts through the territory thus infested.

A Russian printer has invented a typesetting machine, which, the St. Petersburg papers assert, far surpasses all similar machines that have hitherto been produced. It sets in an hour thirty thousand letters ; it costs live thousand roubles, and one thousand letters set thereby cost only live cents.

The Lytteton Times says " there is one very good and strong reason why the Bill now before the Assembly legalising marriage with a deceased wife's sister should pass into law. A similar law is actually in oper.ition, or shortly will be—for, contrary to expectation, it was sanctioned bv the Imperial authorities—in South Australia, and if any man in New Zealand or the Australian Colonies wishes to marry his deceased wife's sister, it is simply a question <f pounds, shillings, and pence."—The Wellington Post, growing humourous on the same subject, says :— <; There is one argument in favour of the question, which has been overlooked. It gives men an opportunity of having only one mother in-law —an obvious advantage—and had that view been pressed upon the House it might have facilitated the passing of the measure through Committee."

Mr O'Neill lias reintroduced his very useful measure for regulating the plans ot j towns, anl it has already passed its second i reading in the Lower House, with every I prospect of becoming law tins session. It | enacts that, after the passing of tlie Bill, | the streets shall not be less than 100 links from building line to building line, and ! that there sh;;'.] be nol less than two principal streets in eich town of not less than I '2oo links in width, livery tenth section is to be reserved from saif, as the nucleus ;of municipal property. There, is also an important clause providing that the levels j of the streets shall be distinctly marked on I the plans, showing the level of the ground j as it waSj and as it would be when al--1 tered.